Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 31-year-old Michael Palladino and 57-year-old Robert Trautwein for allegedly stealing hundreds of pounds of aluminum wire from the Super Walmart construction site in Lockport.

Witnesses told deputies that some 500 pounds of wire fell out of the back of the suspects’ pickup truck on South Transit Road. Deputies tracked the men down, and say Palladino claimed his boss at the site told him he could take the wire. But after speaking to Palladino’s boss, deputies say it became clear this was a theft.

Palladino and Trautwein are both facing charges of petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.

A tow truck had to be called to remove the heavy wire from the roadway.